Month: April 2019

In a recent editorial in the Boston Business Journal, GPS FinTech instructor Sarah Biller discusses Boston fintechs and their unique position to be able to transform the finance industry and solve some of America’s most pressing financial challenges. Biller is co-founder of FinTech Sandbox and founding advisor of MassChallenge FinTech.

Read the full article here, and request more information about studying FinTech at Brandeis here.

According to a 2018 study conducted by Emsi and the Strada Institute for the Future of Work, 85 percent of the jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t been invented yet. While technological advancements will continue to lead to the creation of brand new sectors and jobs, existing fields are also becoming increasingly reliant on technology.

Journalism and communications careers in particular are becoming more focused on IT, with job postings requiring more tech-focused skills such as SEO, social and web analytics, and web design. As these fields are evolving, it is important for job candidates to set themselves apart.

Brandeis GPS offers a part-time, fully online MS in Digital Marketing and Design to help journalism and communications professionals stay on top of the digital skills required by an increasing number of jobs. With a curriculum that explores SEO, analytics, web design/user experience, and multichannel marketing, students learn how digital content is consumed, shared and evaluated.

Brandeis GPS offers rolling admission to our 12 fully-online master’s degree programs, so you can apply and be accepted at any time. However, we do have recommended deadlines if you are seeking admission for a specific term. The deadline to apply to our Fall 1 session with courses beginning in July is Wednesday, June 19. You can apply here. Those interested in taking a course who do not yet wish to pursue a full master’s degree can still take up to two online courses without officially enrolling.

Sean Milligan, an instructor in the online Master’s in Project and Program Management program, has been awarded the 2019 Rabb School Award for Outstanding Teaching. Sean flew in from Pompano Beach, Florida to receive the award last week. The annual honor is given based on student evaluations, the development and implementation of top quality courses and a support for the goals of the Rabb School.

Sean completed his Master’s in Project and Program Management in 2014, and has been an instructor in the Rabb School of Continuing Studies since Fall 2015. His teaching specializes in addressing the common challenges that project managers face every day and presenting real-world solutions to those challenges, as well as transforming project and program managers into project and program leaders by employing various human factors that are inherent in the team environment.

At Brandeis, Sean teaches Challenges in Project Management and The Human Side of Project Leadership. He was instrumental in developing these key courses that allow students to engage with the important topics of the leadership of people, human-centered project communication, dealing with challenging personalities, managing geographically dispersed teams, overcoming stakeholders’ time management issues, and the navigation of external challenges as they relate to the project management life-cycle.

“I see him as a devoted person, a ‘workaholic’. He handled a huge volume of work within a short time-frame [supporting] numerous students,” commented one of his students. “He demonstrated that he practices what he preaches (or teaches). He always responds to your needs and asks further questions that prompt you [to conduct] further research.”

In addition to teaching in the program, Sean serves as a Global Services and Support Director for a privately-owned software development company specializing in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions for the manufacturing industry. He has more than 25 years of experience in managing projects and programs for a number of industries. He is a member of the Project Management Institute, is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and is a certified Myers-Briggs Practitioner.

When not working or teaching, Sean enjoys traveling, running, hiking, a good dining experience, and is a serious Red Sox fan.

Faces of GPS is an occasional series that profiles Brandeis University Graduate Professional Studies students, faculty and staff. Find more Faces of GPS stories here.

Across the industry, there’s been a massive shift concerning the needs and wants of organizations looking to grow their marketing programs. Many of the “old school” marketers have focused on harder-to-measure aspects of marketing such as brand advertising. While brand is still important, it stands that nearly everything in today’s marketing world is able to be tracked, measured and analyzed. Even billboards can be measured. Digital marketing, of course, lends itself to testing, iteration and improvement.

Companies are making stronger and stronger investments in digital marketing. According to Forrester, the digital marketing spend will near $120 billion by 2021 in the United States alone. With this increased digital marketing spend comes a greater need than ever for marketing professionals who can effectively build, execute against and analyze these enormous budgets.

The American Marketing Association reports that the number of marketing hires is estimated to increase by 6.4% in the next year. Companies expect to shift spend in the next year by increasing 12.3% on digital channels while reducing spend on “traditional advertising” (such as television and direct mail) 1.2% on average.

Currently, many of the undergraduate degrees in “business” or “communications” focus on the high-level principles but not the substance. Even at a graduate level, there’s a shift from the MBA to specialized master’s degrees where “digital marketing” is underrepresented. It’s not just data analytics either, or design, or coding – but it’s putting it all together that matters.

At Brandeis GPS, the MS in Digital Marketing and Design program differentiates itself from traditional marketing degrees in how it blends together principles of digital marketing design, overall strategy, hands-on tactics and analysis. It concentrates on the technical application of marketing theory in digital environments, giving students a rich toolkit for delivering sound, customized digital campaigns for whatever type of audience they’re working with.

GPS has students from healthcare, non-profit, academia, consumer, enterprise software and many other fields. Students don’t need to be coders, designers, writers or analysts, but will come out of the program understanding how to work with all of these in their full-time jobs.

Brandeis GPS offers rolling admission to our 12 fully-online master’s degree programs, so you can apply and be accepted at any time. However, we do have recommended deadlines if you are seeking admission for a specific term. The deadline to apply to our Fall 1 session with courses beginning in July is Wednesday, June 19. You can apply here. Those interested in taking a course who do not yet wish to pursue a full master’s degree can still take up to two online courses without officially enrolling.

In her role as chair, Sue oversees course quality and serves as a subject matter expert; providing the industry insight that keeps the program curricula and goals and outcomes current and relevant for students. She also recruits and mentors faculty and advises students on program and course requirements.

Sue is the Chief Information and Chief Security Officer (CIO & CISO) of Episerver, a global digital Commerce company. As an executive, she brings her leadership and broad technology experience to help companies concentrate on growth by promoting innovation and productivity enhancements through application development, infrastructure operations, data analytics, business process optimization and talent management.

As a certified cloud architect, Sue has an AS in Computer Science from Tunxis College, a BS in Business Administration from Post University, an Executive Leadership MBA from Boston University and a Master’s in Security from UMASS.

Sue’s career includes strategic positions at Microsoft, Net Atlantic, BTE Consulting, and two of Aramark’s apparel companies, Galls and Wearguard-Crest. She has also held high level positions at the Staples Corporation and at CVS Pharmacy.

Learn more about the part-time, online Master’s of Science in Information Security Leadership here.

Faces of GPS is an occasional series that profiles Brandeis University Graduate Professional Studies students, faculty and staff. Find more Faces of GPS stories here.